Nintendo announced the release of its next installment of its Wii titled lineup, Wii Party, this week. The new party game, one of many for Wii, has been designed as a new social experience, with 13 party games and over 80 mini games that don’t just get you involved in the screen, but running around the living room as well. Though Wii Party looks like a simple clone of the Mario Party games, but with Miis, it also includes a number of other activities that play somewhat outside the screen, like Animal Tracker, which asks players to grab the Wii Remote that’s making a specific animal sound, or Hide ‘n’ Hunt, which gets you to hide Wii Remotes around the room and find them before time runs out (in a single room? Really?).

Since it’s really made as a mulitplayer game, Wii Party requires you to have multiple Wii Remotes. It includes three different game categories – Party Games, for up to four players, Pair Games, both cooperative and competitive, and House Party, which include the aforementioned around-the-living room games. Nintendo’s also taking the game on tour across Canada. You can check out the tour stops and dates here.

Comments (1)

It looks like they took Mario Party, and they stripped all the story out of it. This game won’t actually be used during parties; it is targeted for the same situations as Mario Party. Why, then, would you remove an element as important as story?

The Wii ____ games might be well-designed, but they’re all lifeless for the same reason.